Practice Areas

The Food and Drug Administration has extended from March 31 to June 30 the deadline for public comments on a proposed rule that would require the largest food businesses in the U.S. and abroad to take steps to prevent facilities from being the target of intentional attempts to contaminate the food supply. Under this proposal, a food facility would be required to have a written food defense plan that addresses significant vulnerabilities in its food production process. Facilities then would have to identify and implement strategies to address these vulnerabilities, establish monitoring procedures and corrective actions, verify that the system is working, ensure that personnel assigned to the vulnerable areas receive appropriate training and maintain certain records. With some exceptions, this rule would apply to both domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food and are required to register as a food facility.

The FDA is also extending from April 7 to May 22 the deadline for public comments and scientific data and information that will help it refine its draft approach to identifying high-risk foods for which additional recordkeeping requirements are appropriate and necessary to protect the public health, as required by the Food Safety Modernization Act.